Free
by misery is filled with pain
Summary: Rick and Shane come across more than just medical supplies. A routine "shopping trip" goes from bad to worse when they find a survivor in the town hospital. Rated M. ShaneOFC. Post S2Ep7.
1. Chapter 1

**I DON'T OWN ANYTHING YOU RECOGNIZE FROM THE SHOW.**

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><p><strong>STORY IS SET AFTER SEASON 2, EPISODE 7.<strong>

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><p><strong>FREE<strong>

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><p>She could barely remember what things were like before the outbreak. She had vague memories of sunshine and flowers and friends laughing together. Everything seemed to be so long ago.<p>

She couldn't remember anything from before she woke up in a vandalized apartment. She had stumbled across the room while franticly looking for the bathroom as a jolt of pain shot through her and she felt her stomach turn on her. The contents of her stomach barely made it to the toilet as she threw herself in through the door and she cried out in pain as wave after wave shot though her. She had no idea why she was in pain but soon discovered a gash in her side from an inch below her right breast and down to her hip. Her stomach turned over and over until nothing more than stomach acid filled the toilet bowl.

And then she passed out.

She awoke to find herself in a hospital bed and unable to move. Her head was pounding and her vision blurred but the pain was gone and for a brief moment she was able to relax. But that feeling quickly disappeared as she felt fear creep up on her as the restraints started feeling tighter and tighter around her. She gasped and strained to get loose but she couldn't. That's when she screamed.

Something slammed against the door to the room she was in and she immediately went quiet. From the other side of the door noises of shuffling feet and the sounds of angry and aggressive moans as something slammed against the door over and over. She held her breath and stared at the door as if it was going to magically disappear but the door wouldn't budge. She watched the door with frightened eyes and couldn't help but stop breathing completely as she heard and saw the rattling of the door handle. The door handle wouldn't budge but even though she realized she was locked in the room, the very thought of finding out what was on the other side of the door frightened her even more. Her body tensed and she couldn't help but close her eyes and steady herself by taking slow deep breaths letting her lungs fill with air to the point where it started feeling uncomfortable before releasing.

How long she had been lying in the bed she didn't know. All she could feel was the hunger becoming more and more unbearable and the room smelling worse and worse as day became night and night became day. Where was she? Why was she there? Why had she been tied up?

She spent her days crying out for help but all she could hear was shuffling of feet and slamming against the door as she lay helpless on the bed. She was scared but unable to cry. She felt weak and unable to do anything about it she felt herself slipping away.

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><p>Rick Grimes and Shane Walsh had been friends for as long as they both could remember. To count the ways they were different would take a long time but nevertheless they had become friends and they had each others backs no matter what. Rick didn't like the thought of going into another hospital but they were running short of supplies and ever since they left Hershel Greene's farm they had been on the move for three months only stopping to pick up supplies when they were needed.<p>

They had left soon after they had discovered the truth about why Hershel had been hiding the walkers in the barn. At first they had thought that he simply hoped for a cure that would turn his family and friends back to normal but that was proved wrong when the group discovered he was hiding the walkers in the barn. Glen had been the one to reveal the truth to them all and Shane had lost it. He had been against staying at the farm ever since they first set their feet there but because of Carl's condition they didn't have much of an option. But Carl pulled through but the joy of seeing the boy back up and about died with the revelation of what was in the barn.

Shane couldn't help but think back on the day where he broke open the doors to the barn and let the hungry walkers out into the sun. They had been shot dead one by one. He could still remember how silent they all became when the last walker had walked out from the shadows of the barn. Sophie.

Hershel had confessed to wanting to find out how long it would take the walkers before they died off. He kept them locked up and studied them. Little did he know that Otis' wife had decided to keep them all alive. Everyone had been shocked to see the girl walk out from the barn. They had expected the worst but who knew she'd be right under their noses. Everything went from bad to worse and they all decided that leaving was the best thing to do and they had been on the road ever since only stopping when they absolutely had to.

Rick and Shane slowly made their way in through the front doors of the hospital. They had left the vehicles on the outside of the town to avoid drawing the attention of the walkers that were still there. Not knowing how crowded the town was, they knew they took a chance by making a quick shopping trip but they needed the supplies. They made a quick sweep of the first floor of the hospital.

The hospital looked the same as every other hospital they had come across. Each floor showed signs of walkers either dead or… dead but they didn't see anything moving. They slowly made their way up the stairs to the third floor before they saw any sign of life. A group of five walkers were walking back and forth at the end of the corridor that lead to the medical storage room and Rick and Shane knew they had to take them down. However, all of a sudden they heard a scream and the walkers turned towards one of the doors leading to a patient's room.

Rick looked over at Shane and they slowly made their way over to the walkers as the screaming continued keeping the group distracted. They took them down one by one.

"Someone's in there," Rick stated in a hushed voice as he looked over at Shane.

"Let's just get what we came for," Shane replied dryly. "Whoever it is, it doesn't sound human."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rick stared at his friend in disbelief.

"I don't want to do this anymore, Rick," Shane stared at the door in front of them and kicked it in out of anger.

the girl on the bed glanced over at the door and stopped screaming as she heard gun shots. Biting her lip to quiet herself she stared at the door. As it flew open and the two men walked in guns raised she couldn't help but start screaming again. She was tired, so very tired. She looked over at the two men, stopped screaming and let her screaming lips be replaced by a weak smile before she closed her eyes.

Rick looked over at Shane in disbelief and he was met with the same face as Shane looked back at him.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Rick and Shane couldn't believe what was lying on the hospital bed in front of them. Strapped down like a test subject; was a young girl who looked more dead than alive. The stench in the room was horrid and they both assumed that she had turned, but as they closed in on the bed to take a closer look they could see that there was a faint spark of life left in her eyes. Rick walked up close to her as he pulled out his knife and reached his hand out to push the hair out of her face. A lone tear slid down her cheek as she felt him cut the restraints keeping her locked to the bed. Shane watched them as he reached into his backpack and pulled out an energy bar. He knew it wouldn't help much but it was better than nothing at all. He helped Rick get her seated on the bed and broke off small pieces of the energy bar before feeding it to her between small gulps of water.

Tears streamed down her face as she felt piece by piece of the most delicious food she could remember tasting slip in between her lips. The water quenched her thirst and she could feel her energy rise though only by a little. She was aware that the two men were talking to each other but she was unable to focus on what was being said. She focused on the food and closed her eyes just reveling in the taste.

Shane grabbed the backpacks and bags they had brought with them and made his way out of the room, making sure there were no more walkers around before heading straight for the storage room. He broke the door in and continued to fill the backpacks and bags with whatever medical supplies were left in the room. His mood lightened up a bit as he found both plenty of painkillers and antibiotics amongst the various drugs lined up on shelves and in drawers. He had a list he went by to pick up what the rest of the survivors had wanted them to pick up and then proceeded to gather together everything else he could think of as useful in the future.

He walked further into the room, filling the bags as he went, and made sure that there weren't anything left of interest before turning to head back to the hospital room where Rick was waiting. As he turned he couldn't help but notice a door with a small sign on saying "locker room" and decided to take a peek. The door was unlocked which made entry easy and the room proved to host nothing more than lockers and a shower area that miraculously still had running water. He smirked and left the room to go get Rick.

"Found a shower and some clothes," his thick accent reached Rick and he motioned to the girl as Rick cast a glance back at him over his shoulder. Rick turned back to the girl and smiled weakly before reaching down and picking her up. Shane made sure the way was unblocked as the trio made their way through the storage room to the locker room and into the shower.

Rick was glad the girl was pretty much out of it as they slowly started stripping her of the hospital gown she had been wearing. The gown stuck to her skin because of urine and shit and he couldn't help but gag at the thought of her lying in her own filth for as long as she had. She was barely more than skin and bones and he made a comment about her being alive when the odds of anyone surviving her situation were grim. Shane didn't speak, but simply picked her up and carried her over to the shower and placed her on the floor letting her soak underneath the warm spray of water before dousing her in whatever shower gel he could find from going through the lockers. She was beginning to look a lot more alive as the grime washed off her and he smiled to himself as he studied his handiwork. As soon as they had gotten her as clean as they could, he wrapped her up in a towel and dried her off before slipping the sweats and t-shirt he had found for her.

The warmth of the water hitting her made her relax. She didn't open her eyes and didn't make a sound for she had barely any energy left. The small boost of strength from the energy bar quickly passed and she let herself be taken from the bed and led to wherever she was. She felt warm strong hands wash every part of her only to be replaced by a huge towel once they were done with the shower. She was about to object when they took the towel from her but the towel was followed by clothes that were way too big for her, but they'd have to do for now.

They had both been watching her intently as Shane was cleaning her up. Her hair was a lifeless dark brown color and her body was pale from lack of nutrition. As they had undressed her and peeled off the bandage that had been wrapped around her they noticed a mildly irritated nut healing cut that had been sown back together. Rick couldn't help but comment on how lucky she was for it not getting infected from the filth she had been stuck in. Shane made a mental note to feed her some of the antibiotics once they got back to the others; better safe than sorry. He brushed has hair out of her face and looked at her. Her eyes were closed but he knew she was awake. She opened her eyes and stared straight back into his and he couldn't help but smile at her. She was so delicate.

Shane picked her up as Rick went for the bags and they slowly made their way out of the hospital and back out of the town unseen. Rick didn't have to say anything; Shane already knew they were bringing her with them.

The girl drifted in and out of sleep for the next week. The women took their turn watching over her as the caravan started moving again. Everyone had been curious about the young girl when Rick and Shane had brought her back with them and when they told everyone where they had found her and what condition she had been in they all decided to pitch in to help her recover. The week passed slowly but the girl showed signs of growing stronger and stronger each day.

Carl was sitting next to her watching her as she slept. He was glad that they had found her for it gave him something else to think about since the incident where Sophie was killed… for the second time. He noticed she started to stir and got a cup of water ready for her as he had been told to do. The girl opened her eyes and stared straight up at him and accepted the water she was offered. She gave him a weak smile.

"What's your name," he asked out of curiosity, but not expecting an answer.

"Madison," was her only response as she rolled over and drifted back to sleep. Carl got hysterical and hurried to the front of the moving vehicle and told his mom who was sitting next to Dale as he was driving.

"Her name's Madison," Carl proudly told his mom and she smiled and ran her hand through her son's hair. It was going to be nice to have a new face amongst them once she recovered to the point where she'd be able to be up and about.

Shane's mind was filled with guilt. He left Rick for dead… he shot Otis… he wanted to stop looking for Sophie only to find out that she had been turned into one of… them. He gripped the steering wheel with his left hand as he ran his right over his face. He was exhausted beyond reason and he was tired of being on the move. He had barely spoken to any of the others since they left the farm and he was sure they all hated him. He was sure everyone knew what had happened. If Dale knew, how could the rest not know?

He thought back on the girl they picked up at the hospital and how frail she looked. Had Rick been that bad when he escaped the hospital? Had he been left there to rot like the girl had? Shane was at a loss of what to do. He wanted Lori. He needed Lori. But that was never going to happen. She shunned him like the plague and he understood why. She blamed him for leaving Rick behind. She blamed him for almost getting Rick killed by leaving him behind. She blamed him for lying to her about Rick being dead. She had every right to blame him. All he did was do bad things worse. But there was one thing he did know and that was that he hadn't complained when Rick wanted to bring the girl back with them. For once in his life he felt that the right thing to do was to keep her around instead of going by what his head told him. A group is only as strong as its weakest member.

He stared ahead as he drove along the highway. Maybe that wasn't always the case?


End file.
